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Friday, October 18, 2013

November is National Novel Writing Month

National Novel
Writing Monthis a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel
writing. Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a 175-page
(50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30.

Valuing
enthusiasm and perseverance over painstaking craft, NaNoWriMo is a novel-writing
program for everyone who has thought fleetingly about writing a novel but has
been scared away by the time and effort involved.

Because
of the limited writing window, theonly thing that matters in NaNoWriMo is output.
It's all about quantity, not quality. The kamikaze approach forces you to lower
your expectations, take risks, and write on the fly.

Make
no mistake: You will be writing a lot of crap. And that's a good thing. By
forcing yourself to write so intensely, you are giving yourself permission to
make mistakes. To forgo the endless tweaking and editing and just create. To
build without tearing down.

As you
spend November writing, you can draw comfort from the fact that, all around the
world, other National Novel Writing Month participants are going through the
same joys and sorrows of producing the Great Frantic Novel. Wrimos meet
throughout the month to offer encouragement, commiseration, and -- when the
thing is done -- the kind of raucous celebrations that tend to frighten animals
and small children.

So, to recap:

What:
Writing one 50,000-word novel from scratch in a month's time.

Who:
You! We can't do this unless we have some other people trying it as well. Let's
write laughably awful yet lengthy prose together.

Why:
The reasons are endless! To actively participate in one of our era's most
enchanting art forms! To write without having to obsess over quality. To be
able to make obscure references to passages from your novel at parties. To be
able to mock real novelists who dawdle on and on, taking far longer than 30
days to produce their work.

When:
Sign-ups begin October. Writing begins November 1. To be added to the official
list of winners, you must reach the 50,000-word mark by November 30 at
midnight. Once your novel has been verified by our web-based team of robotic
word counters, the partying begins.

Brian Henry has been a book editor, writer, and creative writing instructor for more than 25 years. He teaches creative writing at Ryerson University. He also leads weekly creative writing courses in Burlington, Mississauga, Oakville and Georgetown and conducts Saturday workshops throughout Ontario. His proudest boast is that he has helped many of his students get published.